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If you have information on the whereabouts of asbestos you will, under the duty of
co-operation, be required to make this available to those responsible for managing these risks.
The main duty to manage is placed on the person responsible for maintaining the fabric of the
non-domestic building or the shared common parts of domestic buildings.
This is a web-friendly version
of leaflet INDG223(rev4),
revised 11/09
This guidance will also be of help to you if you are managing asbestos in the private areas
of social domestic premises. It will help you decide how to identify, assess and manage
any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) on your premises. A good strategy to manage
these materials will help you prevent risk to workers or others who may use the premises.
The guidance (previously called Managing asbestos in premises) will be particularly
useful if you have small or less complex premises such as a shop or a farm building. If
you have complex and/or many buildings to manage, you may find that
A comprehensive guide to managing asbestos (see Other useful information for
details) will provide the more detailed advice that you need.
Who is at risk?
Anyone who uses your premises, who disturbs asbestos that has deteriorated or
been damaged and is releasing fibres, can be at risk. In fact, anyone whose work
involves drilling, sawing or cutting into the fabric of premises could potentially be at
risk. They may all breathe in asbestos fibres during their day-to-day work.
There is now evidence to show that repeated occupational exposures, such as those
which could occur during routine maintenance and repair work, can lead to asbestosrelated cancers. But we do know the more asbestos fibres breathed in, the
greater the risk to health. That is why it is important that ACMs are identified and
that everyone who works with them should take appropriate precautions.
ceiling voids;
moulded or preformed lagging - generally used in thermal insulation of pipes
and boilers;
sprayed asbestos - generally used as fire protection in ducts, fire breaks, panels,
equipment. Asbestos paper has also been used as a fire-proof facing on wood
fibreboard;
asbestos cement products, which can be fully or semi-compressed into flat
or corrugated sheets. Corrugated sheets are largely used as roofing and wall
cladding. Other asbestos cement products include gutters, rainwater pipes and
water tanks;
certain textured coatings;
bitumen roofing material; and
vinyl or thermoplastic floor tiles.
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Remember, although these are the most likely uses and places where asbestos will be found,
asbestos was used in many other materials. If you are in doubt, it is safer to presume that a
material contains asbestos, unless there is strong evidence that it does not.
condition it is in;
or assessing if ACMs are liable to be present and making a presumption that
materials contain asbestos unless you have strong evidence that they do not;
Managing asbestos in premises
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presuming materials contain asbestos, unless you have strong evidence that
they do not;
making and keeping up to date a record of the location and condition of the
place; and
setting up a system for providing information on the location and condition of the
invoices, which may tell you if and where asbestos was used in the construction
or refurbishment of the premises;
carrying out a thorough inspection of the premises both inside and out to identify
materials that are or may be asbestos; and
consulting others, such as the architects, employees or safety representatives,
who may be able to provide you with more information and who have a duty of
co-operation to make this available.
If the age of the building or the information you obtain provide strong evidence that
no ACMs are present, then you do not need to do anything other than to record
why this evidence indicates there is no asbestos present.
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Do not break or damage any material which may contain asbestos to try to identify it.
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) has developed an accreditation
scheme for organisations which do asbestos surveys. UKAS already has a separate
accreditation scheme for sampling and analysis of asbestos in materials. An
accredited company is likely to employ suitably trained people for these types of
work. But you should check what the firm is accredited for, as some will only be
qualified to do surveys and take samples and others only to analyse samples (the
UKAS website address is: www.ukas.com).
Individuals may also be certificated as technically competent to carry out asbestos
surveys. They can be certificated under the Asbestos Building Inspectors
Certification Scheme (see page 19).
Personnel certification schemes do not necessarily look at the quality of the
procedures and systems used by the whole organisation, whereas the UKAS
accreditation scheme will have assessed these.
Surveys may also be undertaken by other competent surveyors who have the
appropriate combination of qualifications and experience. Firms are generally listed in
Yellow Pages and other business directories. Organisations who carry out asbestos
analysis and identification are listed under laboratories or asbestos analysts.
Alternatively, you can ring UKAS on 020 8917 8400 or e-mail them at info@ukas.com
for information on accredited organisations.
Managing asbestos in premises
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The survey should have identified what type of ACMs are present and where they
are. There are two further stages to consider before you can fully develop your risk
assessment - what condition are the ACMs in and are they being disturbed or likely
to be disturbed?
If the asbestos-containing materials in your premises are in poor condition you will
have to arrange repairs or have them sealed, enclosed or removed.
the ACM;
if the ACM is in a position where it is likely to be disturbed;
how much ACM is present;
whether there is easy access to the ACM;
whether people work near the ACM in a way that is liable to disturb it;
if it is close to areas in which people normally work when it is
disturbed;
the numbers of people who use the area where the ACM is; and
if maintenance work, refurbishment or other work on the premises
is likely to be carried out where the ACM is.
You will need to prepare and implement a plan to manage these risks.
Managing asbestos in premises
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Decide what to do
Asbestos in good condition
If the asbestos is:
in good condition; and
is not likely to be damaged; and
is not likely to be worked on or disturbed;
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keep everyone out of the work area who does not need to be there;
take care not to create dust;
keep the material wet, whenever possible;
wear a suitable respirator and protective clothing;
clean up with a vacuum cleaner which complies with BS EN 60335 (Class H).
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HSEs guidance Asbestos essentials task manual (see Other useful information
for details) provides advice on working safely with asbestos for people carrying out
maintenance or similar work.
Make sure building workers and contractors know when they need to call in a specialist
contractor licensed by HSE.
Great Britain, of all products containing asbestos. They also ban the secondhand use of asbestos building materials which are not part of an existing building
being taken down and put up again within the same premises.
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM)
require the client to provide the planning supervisor with information about the
project which is relevant to health and safety. This information might, for instance,
include previous surveys of the building for asbestos. Not all projects come within
the scope of these Regulations. For more information see Want construction
work done safely? A quick guide for clients on the Construction (Design and
Management) Regulations 2007 (see Other useful information for details).
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Safety representatives
It is your duty to ensure the health and safety at work of your employees. Safety
representatives will often be able and willing to help you develop measures to do
this. So it makes sense to consult them and find ways you can both co-operate on
health and safety.
If safety representatives have been appointed under the Safety Representatives
and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 (as amended), you must consult them on
health and safety matters. The Regulations also require you to give them access
to information relevant to the health and safety of the workers they represent,
including any relating to potentially hazardous conditions.
Checklist
Find
Condition
Presume
Identify
Record
Assess
Plan
You must check if materials containing asbestos are present or are liable to be present
You must check what condition the material is in
You must assume the material contains asbestos unless you have strong evidence that it does not
If you are planning to have maintenance or refurbishment of the building carried out or the material
is in poor condition, you may wish to arrange for the material to be sampled and identified by a specialist
Record the location and condition of the material on a plan or drawing
You must decide if the condition or the location means the material is likely to be disturbed
Prepare and implement a plan to manage these risks
Minor damage
Good condition
encapsulated
The condition of the material should be
intervals
Where practical the material should be labelled
Inform the contractor and any other worker likely to work on
Asbestos disturbed
removed
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Further information
HSE priced and free publications can be viewed online or ordered from
www.hse.gov.uk or contact HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA
Tel: 01787 881165 Fax: 01787 313995. HSE priced publications are also available
from bookshops.
For information about health and safety ring HSEs Infoline Tel: 0845 345 0055
Fax: 0845 408 9566 Textphone: 0845 408 9577 e-mail: hse.infoline@natbrit.com or
write to HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.
The Stationery Office publications are available from The Stationery Office,
PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN Tel: 0870 600 5522 Fax: 0870 600 5533
e-mail: customer.services@tso.co.uk Website: www.tso.co.uk (They are also available
from bookshops.) Statutory Instruments can be viewed free of charge at www.opsi.gov.uk.
This leaflet contains notes on good practice which are not compulsory but
which you may find helpful in considering what you need to do.
This leaflet is available in priced packs of 10 from HSE Books, ISBN 978 0 7176 6375 0.
Single copies are free and a web version can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/
indg223.pdf.
Crown copyright This publication may be freely reproduced, except for
advertising, endorsement or commercial purposes. First published 11/09.
Please acknowledge the source as HSE.
INDG223(rev4)
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